ROOKE: Democrats Love A Whistleblower Until They Call Out Their Fraud, Abuse

Kenneth Mejia has served as the Los Angeles city controller since November 2022, when Angelinos elected him to be the city’s chief financial officer, responsible for accounting, auditing, and payroll. Still, despite being in an elected position, Mejia says that Democrats who control the city’s budget are making him pay for exposing their mismanagement and corruption.

In a TikTok video posted Friday, Mejia claims that after releasing the 2024 Annual Report of the City Controller’s Fraud, Waste, & Abuse Unit, the Los Angeles City Council reduced his budget by 15 percent, resulting in the loss of 27 positions. As the city’s independent financial watchdog, his office is responsible for overseeing over $35 billion in annual city spending.

@lacontrollermejiaDid you know that my Office oversees OVER $35 BILLION as the city’s independent financial watchdog? Unfortunately, we are nowhere near being sufficiently staffed to provide that independent oversight that YOU all voted for because of the way the City Charter currently is. That is why I am asking for your help! Help us STRENGTHEN the Controller’s Office so that we can fulfill our role as the City’s ndependent financial watchdog – accountable to the PEOPLE, YOU! 📩 Email your public comment to the Charter Reform Commission at [email protected] Read our full letter of our Charter Reform recommendations, visit https://controller.lacity.gov/press♬ original sound – LA Controller Kenneth Mejia

The report highlights just how little manpower the controller’s officer has to oversee the massive budget, which spans over 40 departments and 40,000 employees. Mejia says that due to the budget cut, his department now has only five fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) investigators to do the job, despite seeing a 61-percent increase in reported FWA cases year over year (though many were outside the unit’s jurisdiction). (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)

Los Angeles is home to around 3.88 million residents as of 2024, with the most recent estimate being 3,878,704. The situation with Mejia’s department budget highlights a broader issue of political interference in financial oversight, where transparency and accountability can be undermined by those in power, mainly when the audit produces results that expose the powerful to scrutiny.

However, Mejia’s case is particularly concerning, given the scale of the budget involved and the potential for mismanagement or corruption, as evidenced by the accusations of fraud, waste, and abuse against programs overseen by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, which the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating.

NEW🚨

In 2024, our FRAUD, WASTE, & ABUSE (FWA) Unit received 708 cases (up 61%)‼️

EXAMPLES🔎
– City employee saved pornographic material on city phone & used position for personal gain on a building project
– Officer issued unenforceable parking ticketshttps://t.co/NiGw1slkkd pic.twitter.com/05Myvtyd2k

— LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia (@lacontroller) July 30, 2025

In April 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office launched the Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force to investigate the misappropriation of federal funds across Southern California, including programs in Los Angeles. Bass’s administration — as there are no specific charges against Bass — faces accusations of potential waste and fraud in homelessness programs, such as Inside Safe, which spent hundreds of millions in federal and state funds to handle the Los Angeles homeless crisis. While Bass’s office emphasized transparency, the city slashed Mejia’s budget.

Mejia’s FWA unit inspected a motel used in Bass’s Inside Safe initiative for housing the homeless. The probe found that the service provider’s food inventory consisted almost entirely of instant ramen noodles, raising concerns about inadequate nutrition and potential waste in program spending. (ROOKE: Mamdani Finally Found Something He Can’t Use Socialism To Steal)

Famously, California Democrats, like Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, love to praise whistleblowers. But we are seeing in the Mejia case that what they care about are watchdogs in charge of accusing Trump and other Republicans. They don’t take too kindly to anyone on their side exposing their corruption. Mejia has a chance to break free from the Democrats on the Los Angeles City Council on Oct. 30. He’s asking residents to demand that his budget be independent of the council’s oversight.

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